Historically, postal authorities have looked upon the rebus with mixed feelings. A “rebus” uses an image to communicate a name, word or phrase. The word “rebus” came from the Latin phrase “Non verbis sed rebus,” which means “Without words, but with the help of things.”

In times and places where large portions of the populace were illiterate, rebuses and symbols were a great help in identifying homes and businesses. As literacy spread, rebuses became less important but survived in games and puzzles. From the mid-1800s to the early 1930s, people in England and the U.S.A. found rebuses to be a fun way to address letters and postcards.

Henry Lambskull, The Cottage, Sevenoaks, posted 1891

G. Bilby 8 Crutched Friars, posted 1895

Mrs. Fox, 53 Pier Road, Erith, posted 1895

Mr. F. Lee, Whittingdon House, Leadenhall Market

Mr. Funnel, 145 Wellington Road, Forest Gate, posted 1895

Mr. Arrowsmith, 80 Lichfield Road, Bow E, posted 1895

Rebuses amused, challenged, but ultimately frustrated postal clerks, slowing the flow of mail and upsetting managers who had no sense of humor. In 1865, in Her Majesty’s Mails, the author wrote:

“In the case of rebus addresses, or those where they are not written but pricked with a pin, and otherwise painfully elaborated, the sorter has his patience and ingenuity exercised to no little extent. In all such instances, time is of course lost to the Post-office and the work of examination is necessarily deliberate, hesitating or slow.”

In 1901, the author of Thirty Years in Washington sniffed, “All letters sent evidently for the sole purpose of puzzling or annoying experts of the Dead-Letter Office are classed as freak letters and receive no attention.”

The practice, however, persisted. In 1913, U.S. Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson announced that freak addresses “would be frowned upon.” This had no discernible effect. Officially, at least, the end came in April of 1930. Frederic A. Tilton, the U.S. Assistant Postmaster General, wrote:

“The enviable reputation of postal employees for their patient persistence in deciphering the addresses on mail has led some persons to place ‘freak’ addresses on letters, ‘just to see’ if they will reach the person for whom intended. Such so-called ‘addresses’ consist of rebuses or symbols of various kinds more or less suggestive of the names of well-known persons in various stations in life. Letters bearing such cryptic addresses are not definitely and sufficiently addressed as required by the postal laws and regulations, and consequently are not acceptable for mailing. They should be returned to the sender, if known, for proper address. If the sender is not known, the letters should be treated as prescribed for dead letters.”

— The Postmasters’ Advocate, May 1930

But in 1935 there was an outbreak of a “rebus epidemic” in letters to Hollywood stars. Once the Hollywood post office delivered a letter to the appropriate motion picture company, it became the studio’s challenge to take the letter the final mile. One report noted:

“The torrent of letters pours in, unmitigated, unquenchable but rarely indecipherable. The ingenuity of the studio reserve corps is equal to the task confronting it and the boast is ‘nothing goes to the dead letter office except over our dead bodies.’”

Perhaps the most famous rebus in mail art appeared in Paris in 1937. French artist Georges Hugnet sought to publish a postal series in which “each card will show a previously unpublished work that plays with the idea of the postcard.” He reached out to fellow artists in the Futurism, Dada and Surrealism movements for submissions. The result was Seriés de cartes postales surréalistes garanties (the Guaranteed Surrealist Postcard Series). The limited edition of postcards featured art by Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte, Dora Maar, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali, Man Ray and others.

Picasso’s card, Poisson d’Avril, Dessin rebus no. 8 (April Fish, Rebus Drawing No. 8) was a reference to the French tradition of playing practical jokes on April First. Instead of saying “April Fools,” the French say “poisson d’Avril” (“April Fish”), and a favorite joke of children is to fasten a picture of a fish onto someone’s back with tape. Hence Picasso’s Poisson d’Avril. If anyone has the “translation” of this rebus, do let me know.

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Sources

Her Majesty’s Mails (1865) by William Lewins

Thirty Years in Washington (1901) by Mrs. John Logan

“Freak Addresses,” Ballston Spa Daily Journal, November 7, 1913

“Freak Addresses Postman’s Peeve,” The Macaroni Journal, June 15, 1934

“Rebus Wave Keeping Film Brains Busy,” Schenectady Gazette, October 31, 1935

“A Material History of Rebuses” 

“Rebus” in Wikipedia